On 27 November 1095, at the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II urged the European princes to organise the First Crusade to liberate Jerusalem and defend the Holy Sepulchre of Christ.
“Jerusalem is the navel of the world, […] this royal city, situated at the centre of the world, is now held captive by His enemies, and is in subjection to those who do not know God, to the worship of the heathens. She seeks therefore and desires to be liberated, and does not cease to implore you to come to her aid. […] Accordingly undertake this journey for the remission of your sins, with the assurance of the imperishable glory of the kingdom of heaven. […] When an armed attack is made upon the enemy, let this one cry be raised by all the soldiers of God: It is the will of God! It is the will of God!”
Robert the Monk, Historia Hierosolymitana, 1107.
The peregrinatio in Jerusalem
According to tradition, as recorded by later chroniclers, the origin of the Crusades, the armed expeditions undertaken by Christians to recapture Jerusalem and the holy places from Muslim control, can be traced back to this appeal. However, it is likely that the pontiff’s sermon was less bellicose than we imagine. Furthermore, the term “crusade” did not appear until after 12501. Instead, the original intention was to enable believers from Europe to visit the Holy Land on a peregrinatio in the footsteps of Christ. The coveted final destination was Jerusalem, where pilgrims could retrace Gospel events and pray before the Holy Sepulchre. They travelled the long Via Francigena from France, then embarked from the ports of Apulia for Palestine.
Thus, the Crusaders were invested with a true mission. As a symbol of this divine mandate and their obedience to Christ, they sewed a small cross onto their robes or cloaks. For this reason, they were cruce signati, or Crusaders.
Historical background
Political changes in the near East had made the journey to the Holy Land much more dangerous for Christian pilgrims. Since the defeat of the Byzantine Empire at Manzicerta in 1071, the Seljuk Turks had conquered Anatolia. Furthermore, just five years later, they seized Syria and Palestine from the Fatimids. The situation was a cause for concern for Pope Gregory VII, who feared that Turkish expansionism could also affect Europe.
Even then, therefore, the pontiff considered of primary importance to support the Byzantine Empire and take military action in Asia Minor. It is easy to see that Gregory VII’s project aimed to reunite the Christian churches under the authority of Rome. Just twenty years earlier, the Great Schism (1054) had in fact taken place. However, the pope’s appeal to European princes to come to the aid of Constantinople was ignored. In addition, he was distracted by the Investiture Controversy against Emperor Henry IV.
The election of Urban II
Due to these contrasts, by the time Urban II ascended to the papal throne in 1088, imperial power had weakened considerably. Within a few years, the pope had firmly re-established the primacy of Peter. He was universally recognised throughout Europe as the sole and undisputed authority, perhaps for the first time in history. Meanwhile, calls for help from Constantinople had never ceased. A few months before the Council of Clermont, on 5 March 1095, the Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus sent an embassy to the Council of Piacenza requesting mercenaries. This presented Urban II with an extraordinary opportunity to assert his political and religious supremacy in both the East and the West.
The social reasons for the crusade
However, even Urban II could not have expected the overwhelming response to his appeal. The invitation to the Crusade was met with unimaginable fury by not only nobles, but also by ordinary people. The mission to the Holy Land ended up involving an uncontrolled mass of people. Besides the mystical fervour that characterised the peoples of the Middle Ages, there were social reasons that exacerbated this phenomenon.
For example, overpopulation in Europe fuelled the desire to conquer new territories. As fiefs were only inherited by the eldest son, it was common for young knights to seek their fortune elsewhere. Furthermore, local feudal lords were often at odds with each other. So, diverting their conquering spirits to the Middle East was a way for rulers to gain peace and obedience. They encouraged participation in the Crusades by granting important legal status. It included privileges such as the deferral of past debts and the guarantee of a dignified burial.
The People’s Crusade
In any case, the situation got out of Urban II’s control. In fact, well before the official departure of the First Crusade, an indistinct multitude of poor people, princes, women, priests and even children spontaneously assembled in May 1096. They started to head for the Holy Land in complete autonomy. This expedition, known as the “People’s Crusade”, poorly armed and led by Peter the Hermit, who rode a donkey, was massacred in the first clashes with the Turks after wandering around Constantinople. Peter was the only survivor, as he had remained in Constantinople when his followers fell into a fierce ambush.
The official crusade
The First Crusade officially began in August of that year. It was led by some members of the French nobility, and it reached Constantinople in May 1097. Among them were descendants of the Norman Robert Guiscard, including Bohemond, who had waged a campaign against the Byzantine Empire just a decade earlier. Consequently, Alexius I viewed the entire expedition with distrust and did not actively participate in it. Instead, in return for the supplies he provided, he demanded the surrender of all territories that the Crusader armies would reconquer. It soon became clear that Urban II would not be able to achieve his goals.
The Siege of Jerusalem
After two years of fighting in Seljuk territory, the Crusaders finally entered Jerusalem on 15 July 1099, albeit with some difficulty. The initial siege attempts by the troops led by Godfrey of Bouillon and Raymond IV of Toulouse were, in fact, a complete failure. After more than a month of futile attacks, when the Christians were beginning to lose hope, tradition tells us that the priest Peter Desiderius had a vision. The spirit of the commander Adhemar of Le Puy, who had died of the plague on the way to the city, urged the Crusaders to fast for three days and march around the city barefoot.2. The procession only stopped at the Mount of Olives, where Peter the Hermit proclaimed an impassioned sermon. As a result, Jerusalem fell in nine days, just as Jericho had done in the days of Joshua.
In reality, the city was mainly conquered thanks to the deadly siege towers of Guglielmo Embriaco of Genoa, who had arrived at that very moment to support the troops. Furthermore, the capture of Jerusalem was facilitated by the fact that the city had recently returned to the control of the Fatimid governor, Iftikhar al-Dawla, just a few months earlier. Nevertheless, there was fierce opposition to the invaders, which ended in a massacre of the Muslims.
“[…] and at that place there was such a slaughter that our men were wading up to their ankles in blood…“.
Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolymitanorum, 1100-1101.
Unfulfilled hopes
Contrary to Alexius I’s request, the Crusaders did not return the territories to the Byzantine Empire. Instead, they established the Kingdom of Jerusalem, as had previously occurred in Edessa and Antioch, entrusting its leadership to Godfrey of Bouillon. According to tradition, he refused to be proclaimed king, accepting only the title Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri (“Defender of the Holy Sepulchre”) because he did not consider himself worthy to be crowned in the place where Christ had died. The following year, upon Godfrey’s death, his brother Baldwin was enthroned as the first king of Jerusalem.
The epilogue of the First Crusade
The city of Jerusalem had fallen into Christian hands. However, this was only the beginning of the Crusades. The most challenging task lay ahead: defending the holy places in hostile territory surrounded by enemies. Muslims considered the occupation of their sacred places by unbelievers an outrage and tried several times to reconquer them. The Crusades soon involved the whole of Europe in a great collective mission, in which everyone could find their own personal vocation. For some, assisting pilgrims and defending holy places became a life’s purpose. Following the capture of Jerusalem, several orders dedicated to serving the Church were established with this mission, including the Knights Hospitallers, the Teutonic Knights, and the Order of the Temple of Jerusalem, also known as the Knights Templar. Fighting to pray became the spirit that animated an entire era and changed the course of history forever.
Samuele Corrente Naso
Notes and bibliography
- J. Flori, Pour une redefinition de la croisade, in Cahiers de civilisation médiévale, 47e année, n.188, 2004. ↩︎
- Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolymitanorum, 1100-1101. ↩︎
F. Cardini, Marina Montesano, Storia medievale, Firenze, Le Monnier Università, 2006.
S. Runciman, Storia delle crociate, Milano, Bur, 2006.
S. Runciman, The First Crusade, Cambridge, 1980.
